Vildrose Project

The twelve terraced houses at Karens Minde in southwest Copenhagen are the first in a series of projects that are part of the City of Copenhagen's Affordable Housing initiative.

The 12 terraced houses at Karens Minde in southwest Copenhagen
are quite unique. Not for their distinctive architecture, or for
their particularly interesting internal layout, but because they
are the first batch representing the City of Copenhagen's ambition
to build Affordable Housing.

The Affordable Housing project was devised by Lord Mayor of
Copenhagen Ritt Bjerregaard. The aim of the project is to build
dwellings at rents low enough that it will be affordable for the
municipality's key workers to live in the capital close to their
workplaces.

Retaining key workers

Key workers include policemen, nurses, healthcare staff, primary
school teachers and kindergarten teachers. For many years these
trade groups have been pressured by rising house prices to move
away from Copenhagen. There is a shortage of such staff on the
Copenhagen labour market, and those who continue to work there
spend suffer long commutes.

Wild Rose

The housing scheme at Karens Minde has been given the name
Vildrose (Wild Rose). Each 85 sq.m. terraced house is designed to
accommodate a family with a couple of children. The Vildrose
quarter contains 38 shared-ownership terraced houses, 12 of which
are let out under the Affordable Housing scheme.

Optimised industrial building techniques contribute to keeping
down the prices. The development is a so-called modular housing
construction, which means maximized manufacturing in a factory,
under controlled conditions, at low production cost. The design of
the housing scheme is thus based on the factory production system,
but with great inspiration from contemporary Danish architecture
and Danish housing traditions. Flexibility, unobstructed admission
of natural light and supplementary transmission of daylight through
skylights have been important factors in the design of the housing
units.

The Affordable Housing Foundation

The Affordable Housing Foundation is behind the construction of
the Vildrose development. This non-profit organization was set up
with the objective of building flexible and affordable housing for
families on ordinary incomes. It was former in a collaboration
between four other foundations and one association: Boligfonden
Kuben, KAB-Fonden, Kooperationens Udviklingsfond, DIS-Fonden and
the Architects' Association of Denmark (AA).

How to qualify for an affordable dwelling

The housing units are allocated by lot among applicants who
satisfy a number of criteria. The eligibility criteria are based on
current household size, total income and capital, employment status
and geographical location of current home. 1,500 house hunters
participated in the drawing of lots for the 12 dwellings.

Future plans

The Vildrose affordable housing development is a pilot project,
aimed to test working methods and to pioneer new designs. The
mission of The Affordable Housing Foundation is to build 5000
affordable housing units in Copenhagen. The first 42 units are
planned at Karens Minde. The next 200-300 units are likely to be
built near the Valby Idrætspark stadium.

In addition to that, the following locations have been proposed
as possible sites for affordable housing developments: the Østre
Gasværk site, the Beauvais site at Ryparken station, Ragnhildgade,
Torveporten in Valby, Grøndals Vænge, Amager Fælledvej,
Kløvermarken, Ørestad Syd, and the Århusgade area in
Nordhavnen.

THE FINANCIAL SIDE OF AN AFFORDABLE DWELLING

The rent for an affordable dwelling of 85 sq.m. is DKK 5000 in
2005 prices. Like other goods and services the rent level follows
the general development of wages and prices in society and will
therefore rise by approx. 3.5 per cent a year.

The rent includes all expenses apart from water, heating and
electricity consumption.

The Affordable Housing Foundation has developed a financing
plan, which ensures that the housing expense is maintained for many
years at a level corresponding to approx. 20 per cent of the gross
earnings of the target group.

The Affordable Housing Foundation does not make a profit on the
housing properties. Instead, they use part of the profit from the
sale of owner-occupied housing on financing additional affordable
housing.

Vildrose Project

Facts

12 housing units of 85 sq.m. The units are part of the
Affordable Housing project.

Client

The Affordable Housing Foundation

Architects

ONV Arkitekter in cooperation with architects Tegnestuen
Mejeriet

Landscape architect

Algren & Bruun, Copenhagen

Consulting engineers

Viggo Madsen AS, Højbjerg

Timeframe

Occupancy from spring 2008

NETWORK, KNOWLEDGE AND INNOVATION IN THE BUILDING INDUSTRY

Meet leading Danish and international architects and professionals, create potential networks and acquire important knowledge about the architectural, construction and innovative industries though seminars, publications and case studies.

Listen to Danish and international experts discuss their visions for sustainable urban development and find inspiration from cites throughout the world through case studies, interviews, seminars and professional master classes.

THE BEST VIEW OVER COPENHAGEN HARBOUR

UNIQUE LOCATION FOR MEETINGS AND
CONFERENCES

We provide professional conference facilities and you will have the
opportunity to visit our changing exhibitions, and enjoy a light
lunch or a cup of coffee and a cake in our café on the first
floor.

TEACHING ARCHITECTURE

We offer courses for different age groups in connection with
Danish Architecture Centre's temporary exhibitions. The activities
are suited to varying target groups depending on the type of
exhibition and wherever possible the courses include hands-on
activities for children. The courses can also be conducted in
English.